Security Systems News - Gene Dellagliohttp://www.securitysystemsnews.com/taxonomy/term/2836
enPreparing for the new normal in the wake of Sandyhttp://www.securitysystemsnews.com/blog/preparing-new-normal-wake-sandy
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:author dc:creator">Rich Miller</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:datePublished dc:created"><span class="date-display-single" property="schema:datePublished dc:created" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2012-11-07T00:00:00-05:00">11/07/2012</span></div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:articleBody content:encoded"> <p>Hurricane Sandy, one of the largest storms on record and packing more destructive power than Hurricane Katrina, could very well be a sign of things to come. You can call it climate change instead of global warming and argue that the effects aren’t due to the hand of man, but there’s no denying the impact: the planet is getting warmer, ocean levels are rising and extreme weather events are becoming more common.</p>
<p>Coastal New York and New Jersey learned that the hard way last week. Despite a litany of warnings over the years that Lower Manhattan and the barrier islands were vulnerable to storm surge, it was business as usual until the borrowed time finally ran out. The ocean overran berms, subway tunnels flooded and electrical infrastructure once thought to be safe ended up under 5 feet of water.</p>
<p>“Anyone who says there is not a change in weather patterns is denying reality,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters Oct. 30 as he inspected water damage at the World Trade Center. “We have old infrastructure, we have old systems. That is not a good combination, and that is one of the lessons I will take from this personally.”</p>
<p>The vulnerability of the infrastructure hit home for New York-based SecureWatch 24 on the morning after Sandy came ashore. The company had moved its critical systems to a facility in Texas before the storm, but it still had semi-critical servers at a co-location site in downtown Manhattan. That proved to be a problem when much of the island was inundated and the power failed, said Gene Dellaglio, chief technology officer for SW24.</p>
<p>“They have generators on the 17th floor of this building, diesel generators,” Dellaglio said last week as he traced a time line of the storm. “The pumps that supply the diesel to the 17th floor are in the basement, which is now flooded. Manhattan is flooded. The pumps shut down. By the time we get down there, people are carrying 5-gallon spackle buckets up 17 flights of stairs from a diesel tank downstairs to get the [generators] running. It’s a bucket brigade. I said we’ve got to get out of here.”</p>
<p>Within an hour, SW24 had moved the servers and had them up and running at its new Fusion Centre in Moonachie, N.J., which also <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/sw24-s-fusion-centre-lifeline-during-sandy">served as a command post</a> for emergency responders and local officials displaced by Sandy. While the company was happy to help and was grateful that it had weathered the storm, Dellaglio said it was easy to see that a threshold had been crossed.</p>
<p>“I did 12 years in the NYPD. … I saw the blackout in 2004, I saw Sept. 11 up close and personal, but I’ve never seen [an emergency] as expansive as this, with everything from the gas to the stores to the [shortage of] food,” he said. “And I think there is a lot to be learned here too in the bigger picture about critical infrastructure. How do you put pumps in the basement for diesel when the generators are on the 17th floor? They evacuated Bellevue Hospital for the same reason.”</p>
<p>It’s something that hasn’t gotten enough attention in New York, which relies on an intricate network below ground to drive just about everything above it. But with the region facing what Cuomo calls a “new reality” of extreme weather events, it might be time to rethink the game plan.</p> </div>
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<span property="dc:title" content="Preparing for the new normal in the wake of Sandy" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Wed, 07 Nov 2012 19:22:47 +0000Rich Miller15823 at http://www.securitysystemsnews.comhttp://www.securitysystemsnews.com/blog/preparing-new-normal-wake-sandy#commentsSecureWatch24's new dealer programhttp://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/securewatch24s-new-dealer-program
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:datePublished dc:date"><span class="date-display-single" property="schema:datePublished dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2011-10-25T00:00:00-04:00">10/25/2011</span></div>
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<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:author dc:creator">Daniel Gelinas</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:articleBody content:encoded"> <p>ORLANDO, Fla.—Video monitoring company SecureWatch24 recently announced that it’s launching a new dealer program for its advanced video monitoring and access control services.</p>
<p>SecureWatch24 in July told <em>Security Systems News</em> about the construction of a high-end, state-of-the-art, video monitoring command center it is calling the <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/securewatch24-ready-expand-biz-model-offerings-new-%E2%80%98fusion-center%E2%80%99" target="_blank">SW24 Fusion Center</a> .</p>
<p>"For us, it's a matter of fusing different technologies and bridging the gap between public and private entities, between local, municipal, state or federal law enforcement and the public sector," SW24 CTO Gene Dellaglio told SSN in July. "There's going to be a lot of different technologies coming in there—some central station burg or intrusion monitoring, systems monitoring, information from all the video management servers, and, in addition, all of our call support. We'll be tying in all the technologies and all the people."</p>
<p>The move to a dealer program, announced here at ASIS 2011, is a marked departure from the company’s decade-long direct sales model, according to SW24 founder and president Des Smith.</p>
<p>"The model that we're planning for the dealers is based on them being able to go install the video, install the alarm and if the account asks about monitoring, the dealer can tell them: 'Yes, I can give you that service.' And not only can they offer that service, but if our equipment and software are in play, we can skin it for the dealer. If you're ABC Alarm and you have a cool logo, when you send out your documentation, when the end user logs on, they see ABC Alarms."</p>
<p>Smith said pricing won’t be available until January, concurrent with the full rollout of the dealer program, when he expected they would begin signing up their first dealers.</p>
<p>Smith says the dealer program will help his company fill an expanding verification niche.</p>
<p>"I don't know how many municipalities require alarm verification, but it's huge and there are very few ways to verify an alarm outside of video," Smith said. "I envision my company becoming the alarm verification company. We don't have to take a dealer's alarm services, but we will be a fully licensed, UL-listed central station with alarm services and video management services. Dealers don't have to build a three-and-a-half million dollar fusion center."</p>
<p>SW24 also this year announced it would be monitoring for Mediacom a large, <a href="http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/blog/sw24-surveil-cable-company" target="_blank">nationwide cable company</a>. The deal expanded their surveillance system network to in five states and plans are on the books, according to Smith, for SW24 to eventually provide security for Mediacom offices, data centers and warehouse locations at more than 200 locations in 22 states.</p> </div>
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<span property="dc:title" content="SecureWatch24&#039;s new dealer program" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:25:31 +0000Tess Nacelewicz15026 at http://www.securitysystemsnews.comhttp://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/securewatch24s-new-dealer-program#commentsSecureWatch24 ready to expand biz model, offerings with new ‘Fusion Center’http://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/securewatch24-ready-expand-biz-model-offerings-new-%E2%80%98fusion-center%E2%80%99
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:datePublished dc:date"><span class="date-display-single" property="schema:datePublished dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2011-07-07T10:32:03-04:00">07/07/2011</span></div>
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<div class="field-item even" rel="schema:author dc:creator">Daniel Gelinas</div>
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<div class="field-item even" property="schema:articleBody content:encoded"><p>NEW YORK—SecureWatch24, a security company started by retired NYCPD officers and specializing in property surveillance and facilities management, recently told <em>Security Systems News</em> they are ready to expand their offerings and footprint and change the face of the industry in their market.</p>
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"There's a lot happening here. We're in a real growth and hiring mode," SW24 chief marketing officer and VP residential sales Jay Stuck said. "You're going to hear a lot about us in the future."</p>
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Stuck said the company, with roots in commercial surveillance in Manhattan, is looking to expand its footprint and business model with the opening of its own monitoring center, which it is calling the SW24 Fusion Center, and which the company plans to begin staffing in January 2012. From the new Moonachie, N.J.-based center, SW24 has plans to expand into the residential intrusion monitoring market.</p>
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"We've got a 25,000-square-foot facility that's under construction right now. It's an existing space we've got that we're building out," Stuck said. "It's going to be a real showplace in terms of video management, video monitoring, and intrusion monitoring."</p>
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SW24’s chief technology officer Gene Dellaglio explained the difference between a typical monitoring center and SW24's vision for the Fusion Center.</p>
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"For us, it's a matter of fusing different technologies and bridging the gap between public and private entities, between local, municipal, state or federal law enforcement and the public sector," Dellaglio said. "There's going to be a lot of different technologies coming in there—some central station burg or intrusion monitoring, systems monitoring, information from all the video management servers, and, in addition, all of our call support. We'll be tying in all the technologies and all the people."</p>
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Dellaglio explained how SW24 uses MOUs—memorandums of understanding—with video surveillance clients to increase the reach of law enforcement and bridge the gap between the public and private sector.</p>
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"Law enforcement agencies and first responders will approach us and they'll say, 'We're doing an investigation in the area and we'd love to access those cameras,'" Dellaglio said. "Every client we have is assigned a representative, so when we get a call from law enforcement we go to the client and explain the situation and the client signs a release and we take care of everything."</p>
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SecureWatch24 said it currently has 22,000 cameras communicating through SW24's NOC (network operations center) in place in Manhattan and in the triborough area, as well as in New Jersey and southern Connecticut. The company offers access control, guard services, executive protection services and private investigations.</p>
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<span property="dc:title" content="SecureWatch24 ready to expand biz model, offerings with new ‘Fusion Center’" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span>Thu, 07 Jul 2011 14:32:03 +0000legacy_editor14788 at http://www.securitysystemsnews.comhttp://www.securitysystemsnews.com/article/securewatch24-ready-expand-biz-model-offerings-new-%E2%80%98fusion-center%E2%80%99#comments